Social Security Income

Gross income doesn’t include social security benefits. The exception to this rule is if half of your social security benefits plus your other gross income is more than $25,000 ($32,000 if married filing jointly). Married filing separate also have different social security rules.

Other Income Sources

There are special rules for self employment earnings and church earnings. You must file taxes if your:

Self employment net earnings are greater than $400.

Church earnings are greater than $108.28 and are exempt from employer Social Security and Medicare.

If you earn enough money to file a tax return, you must file your tax return by the tax deadline.

Other Tax Filing Requirements

In addition to the income requirements, there are other circumstances when you must file a tax return. One example is if you sold your home. For all the requirements, see Publication 501.

Optional Filing

Even if you are not required to file a tax return, you can choose to file one. You may want to do this if you had any federal withholding or are entitled to tax credits, like the earned income tax credit, and want to get a refund.

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